Apparatus for feeding loose-leaf metal arches



Feb. 21, 1961 Original Fil p 1951 R. E. KNOCHE APPARATUS FOR FEEDINGLOOSE-LEAF METAL ARCHES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. E. KNOCHE Feb. 21," 1961APPARATUS FOR FEEDING LOOSE-LEAF METAL ARCHES Original File Sept. 5,1951 United States Patent APPARATUS FOR FEEDING LOOSE-LEAF METAL ARCHES7 Raymond E. Knoche, Overland, Mo.

Claims. 01'. 221-160 This invention relates generally to the manufactureof loose-leaf metals of the character employed in loose-leaf notebooksand particularly to an apparatus for automatically feeding such parts toariveting'machine as and when they are needed. This application is adivision of my prior copending application, Serial No. 245,137, filedSeptember 5, 1951, now Patent No. 2,879,919, granted March 31, 1959.

In the manufacture of loose-leaf metals, it is customa-ry to rivet theso-called arches (which constitute respectively one-half of a ring) to abacking strip. The number of arches riveted to such a backing stripdepends upon the number of rings in the notebook so that two suchstrips, each with, the appropriate number of arches secured thereto, maybe arranged side by side to provide the desired number of rings.

Suitable jigs have heretofore been provided for receiving andmaintaining, in proper assembled relationship, such a strip and theappropriate number of arches while the latter are being riveted to theformer as for example inapress. r.

conventionally, the arches are inserted in such a jig manually one at atime; but during the last fifteen years,

various efforts have been made'to feed the arches automatically intosuch a jig. Suchefiorts have-involvedthe provision of a barrel havinginternal baffles of relatively short extent, adapted to contain a supplyof arches and to rotate about a horizontal axis. A plurality of shafts,corresponding in number to the number of arches intended to be rivetedonto a given strip extended through the open end of the barrel in adownwardly and outwardly sloping direction. One or more chutes werearranged to intercept arches cascaded from the flanges within the barreland direct those arches axially of the shafts to a position where theyspilled-upon the shafts. Each shaft then conveyed the arches on it 'toa' chute leading the appropriate position in the assembly jig. To securethe proper'orientation of the arches on the shafts aforesaid, and toeliminate from the shaft all such arches which were improperly orientedthereon, a mechanism was provided which involved a pair of railsextending longitudinally of each shaft and arranged so as to main- Utain the arches level and centered on the shaft, upon which they wereriding; and-one of the rails, was inter rupted so as to permit archesriding on the shaft in improper orientation to drop therefrom Suchdropping was accomplished under the force of gravity by virtue of thefact that while the bodyposition of such arches is substantiallycircular, one end thereof is provided with a tail, the weight of whichtends to cause the arch to cock on the shaft unless otherwiserestrained. The rejector mechanism above-mentioned removed suchrestraint against rocking of arches whose tails extended in the wrongdirection, and consequently permitted them to fall free of the shaft andreturn to the stock within the barrel. v 7

Devices of the character above-described'were not successful incommercial operation for two reasons.- First,

the several shafts would not become uniformly loaded with arches, withthe result that one or more of .the chutes (into which the respectiveshafts fed) might be empty when it was desired to charge a jig.Secondly, the rejector mechanism was uncertain in its operation; whenthe shaft rotated'in one direction, its tendency was to retain all ofthe archm on the shaft; and when it rotated in the opposite direction,its tendency was to discharge the properly oriented ones along with theimproperly oriented ones.

- The object of the present invention generally stated is to provide adevice forpicking up such arches from a bulk supply thereof, arrangingthem on a shaft in properly aligned series and rejecting from said shaftthose arches which are improperly aligned.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art when thefollowing description is read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure tie a view in side elevation of an automatic arch feederconstructed'in accordance with the present invention; a Figure 2 is alongitudinal sectional view of the device shown in Figure l; Figure 3"isa sectional view taken along line 33 Figure 2; a

Figure 41s a sectional view taken alongside line 44 ofFigure3;'

' "Figures 5 and-6 are sectional views taken along lin 5-5 and 66respectively of Figure 2;

-Figure"7 is a perspective view'of one typical form of arch intended tobe handled by the apparatus;

Figure 8 is a sectional view'taken along line 8-8 of Figure 2,butshowingthe parts in ejecting position; and "Figure 9 is, aperspectiveviewof the ejector. I Generally stated, the" invention contemplates theprovision of a truncated conical receptacle arranged for rotation aboutits axis and having on the interior thereof a plurality of obliquelyextending bafiies; theinner edges of which are conformed so as'toterminate substantially parallel with the axis of the receptacle andrelatively close to such axis. In cross section, the said bafflesare oftrough shape, each: having its radially outward portion departingsubstantially from radial relationship with the axis of the receptaclebut terminating ina lip which extends in a direction substantiallyradial to'the axis of the receptacle. The trough thus provided is opento'dip and retain quantities of arches and carry them upward from thebottom of the receptacle toward the top thereof during rotation'o'f thereceptacle about its axis. i

- A conveying shaft, driven for rotation about its axis,

which is. preferably concentric with the axis 'of the .re-'

ceptacle aforesaid, extends through the truncated end of the receptacleto a position between'the inner edges of the several baflies aforesaid,and extends outwardly to a 'position remote from the receptacle. 'Apairof rails extends longitudinallyalongside the shaft, and the uppersurfaces thereof are arranged to make contact respectively with the endsof arches riding upon the shaft; At a position well withinthe truncatedend of the receptacle, one of the rails is interrupted so as to permitarches whose tails are riding upon the interrupted rail to rock (underthe influence both of gravity acting upon the tail, and of friction fromthe rotating shaft acting upon the body) about the axis of the shaft andfree themselves, thus returning to the stock within the receptacle. Theinvention particularly contemplates, however, that the arches whosetails are riding upon the uninterrupted rail be retained in position onthe shaft by depressing-the uninterrupted rail so that it is out oflevelwith the interrupted rail; immediately ahead of andfatthe'dnt'errupted section of theopposite rail. 'With' such aii'age aaassa rangement, and with the shaft rotating in a direction such as totend to rock the arches riding thereon toward the interrupted section ofrail, the properly oriented arches (i.e., those whose tails arerestingon the uninterrupted rail) are held in position thereon, the extraweight of their tails, being disposed below the horizontal diameter ofthe shaft, restraining them against movement in the direction ofrotation of the shaft. Alternatively, the uninterrupted rail may beprovided with a part overhanging the tails of properly oriented archesriding on the shaft, but this arrangement introduces a friction betweenadjacent arches riding upon the shaft and thus restrains rejection ofthose which are improperly oriented.

Remote from the receptacle the shaft aforesaid is provided with anejector mechanism fully described in my aforesaid parent application.

Having thus generally described the machine, reference may be had to thedrawings for an illustrative embodiment thereof.

A truncated conical receptacle 1, having an open end 2 and a closed end3, is mounted upon a suitable support 4, and driven in rotation aboutits axis which in the embodiment shown slopes downwardly fromhorizontal. From the interior of the wall of receptacle 1, a pluralityof bafiies project so as to terminate adjacent and substantiallyparallel with the axis of rotation of receptacle 1.

A conveyor shaft 6, driven in rotation in the same direction as, butfaster than, receptacle 1, extends through the open end 2 of receptacle1, and through the closed end 3 thereof, said shaft being supported bysupport 4 and driven exterially thereof as through a pulley 7. Beneathshaft 6, a concave stationary bar 8, having rail surfaces 9 and 10, isarranged. The end of bar 8 adjacent bottom 3 of receptacle 1 is carriedby a plate 11 which embraces shaft 6 and permits the latter to rotatefreely therewithin while the bar 8 remains stationary. The outer end ofbar 8 is carried by a suitable support 12, which support likewisecarries a bearing 13 for shaft 6.

As clearly shown in Figure 5, the rail surfaces 9 and 10 of bar 8 arearranged with reference to shaft 6 so as to make contact with theopposite ends of an arch 14 riding on the shaft 6. As clearly shown inFigures 5 and 7, the arch 14, while in the main substantially circular,is provided at one end with a tail 15 which, when the arches areproperly oriented on shaft 6, makes contact with rail 10. Arches Whosetails 15 make contact with rail 9 are improperly oriented, and arerejected from shaft 6 within receptacle 1 by the arrangement now to bedescribed. Bar 8 is cut away so as to eliminate rail 9 between positions16 and 17, shown clearly in Figure 2. The gap 18 thus provided in rail 9permits improperly oriented arches riding on shaft 6 to rock in thedirection of the arrow in Figure 6, and thus be dislodged from shaft 6,falling back into the bottom of receptacle 1. In order to minimize theprobability that improperly oriented arches in being thus dischargedfrom shaft 6 drag the then properly oriented arches, the inventioncontemplates that rail 10 be depressed below the level of rail 9immediately ahead of (i.e., toward bottom 3) position 16, for a distancesufficient to permit the properly oriented arches to rock away from rail9 before gap 18 is reached by them. This arrangement frees theimproperly oriented arches to move in the opposite direction withoutdragging properly oriented arches with them. For added assurance that noimproperly oriented arch shall pass gap 18, a feeler 69 is mounted onbar 8 with its tip in the path of the tail on any improperly orientedarch (but clearing properly oriented arches). The tip of feeler 60 maybe bent to cam downwardly any tails engaging it.

In order to prevent the arches riding on shaft 6 from ovenriding eachother, as they approach .the gap 18, 9,. prong 61 is mounted .011 bar 8with its free .end over.-

. 4 I hanging shaft 6 at a clearance sufficient to pass but one arch.Immediately ahead of gap 18 and there-beyond toward the ejector to bedescribed later, bar 8 may be provided on the side of rail 10 with amember 20, which overhangs rail 10 and provides there-between a channel21, proportioned so as to accommodate tail 15 of one arch 14 at eachincrement of cross-section.

Shaft 6 may be, andpreferahly is, provided with a shallow groove 22spiraled about the shaft in a direction tending to urge the arches 14riding thereon out through the open end 2 of receptacle 1 as said shaftturns i -rotation. Accordingly, the arches on. shaft 6 are progressivelymoved outwardly from receptacle 1 toward an ejector now to be described.

At the end of shaft 6, adjacent bearing 13, an ejector 23 morespecifically described in my aforesaid copending application is providedso as to eject the respective arches in multiple from the shaft into amultiple chute 30, having three separate channels 31, 32. and 33. Inorder to restrain the advance of further arches during each operation ofthe ejector, the device is also provided with a gate 40 in the form of'a thin strip of metal arranged to separate the arches which are inposition on the ejector from those arches which are riding on shaft 6immediately in advance of the ejector. In the embodiment shown the gate40.is carried by an arm 41 pivoted at 42 to a lug 43 mounted on bar 8.The forward end of arm 41 is normally (i.e., when the ejector is in theposition shown in Figure 1) held in position such that the gate 40 iselevated out of contact with the advancing arches, but, when the ejectoris operated, gate 4% falls into position ahead of that arch which isnext to be accommodated by the ejector.

An important feature of the invention resides in the contour of thebaffles 5. As clearly shown in Figure 3, the baflies are trough-shaped,having their innermost section 50 extending substantially radially andtheir outward section 51 inclined so that its inner extremity is intrailing relationship with reference to the radius of the outerextremity thereof. Thus, between the sections 50 and 51, a trough isprovided which is open on the leading side of the bafiie and hencescoops from the bottom of receptacle 1 a quantity of arches andtransports then-upwardly until they are cascaded over the lip section 50toward shaft 6. To assure that the greatest number of arches thuscascaded be caught by shaft 6, the free edge of lip section 50preferably extends very nearly parallel with the axis of shaft 6 and inas close as possible relationship thereto, which is to say that theedges of the baflies 5 just clear the exterior contour of bar 8.

. The body portions 51 of the bafiies 5 are arranged out of parallelrelationship with the axis of receptacle 1 so as to incline in adirection such that the free ends thereof (toward end 2 of receptacle 1)lead the opposite ends. Any suitable chute 52 may be arranged to extendthrough open end 2 of receptacle 1 in laterally off-set relationship toshaft 6 so as to facilitate the periodic charging of receptacle 1 with ane \vsupply o.f arches and without interrupting operation of themechanism. 9

The operation of the devices may be briefly summarized as follows: Asuitable charge of arches is deposited into receptacle 1 and by virtueof the conical shape thereof together with the inclination of battles 5,move toward the end 3. As the receptacle 1 rotates, a substantialportion of the charge of arches is picked up by each of the bafiies 5and elevated to a position above shaft '6 where the charge of thatbaflie is cascaded toward and upon theshaft. A considerableproportion ofthe cascaded arches which lands astride shaft 6 (and others whichrlandotherwise) will fall back into the, bot tom of a receptacle 1. Some ofthe arches, which (fall astride' shaft 6,'will have their tails 15extending one direction, others in the other direction, but al lareadanc .d w sh Wand st '8. Where t ss et hs depending upon the numberdesired for simultaneous forwarding into a riveting jig.

While one complete embodiment of the invention has been described indetail, such embodiment is to be regarded as merely illustrative of theinvention, and not to be considered as a limitation upon the invention.While in the drawings the ejector device has been illustrated ashandling three arches at a time, it is to be understood that any desirednumber may be simultaneously ejected by appropriately increasing ordecreasing the capacity of the ejector. Neither is the invention limitedto the particular style or size of arch illustrated. It is to bedistinctly understood, therefore, that such modifications, adaptationsand variations and the substitution of equivalents for the severalelements disclosed as may occur to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention are, although notspecifically described herein, contemplated by and within the scope ofthe appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the kind described, having an interiorly baffledtumbling barrel, a rotating shaft extending through the barrel and to aremote point outside thereof, and aligned rails extending alongside saidshaft, one of said rails having a gap within the barrel, the improvementwhich comprises, the gaped rail being higher than the opposite railadjacent said gap.

2. In a device of the kind described, having an interiorly baflledtumbling barrel, a rotating shaft extending through the barrel and to aremote point. outside thereof, and aligned rails extending alongsidesaid'shaft, one of said rails having a gap within the barrel, theimprovement which comprises, the gapped rail being higher than theopposite rail adjacent said gap, and means for rotating said shaft in adirection such that the top thereof moves toward said gapped rail.

3. In a device of the kind described having a tumbling barrel having anexterior wall, bames extending substantially axially of and aflixed tothe inside of said exterior wall, a rotating shaft extending through thebarrel and to a remote point outside thereof, and aligned railsextending alongside said shaft, the improvement which comprises, saidbafiles having an outward section inclined in trailing relationship withreference to the radius of the outer extremity thereof, said bafileseach having a lip at its inward extremity forming a trough with theoutward section of the battle, and said lip having its free edgeextending substantially parallel with and closely adjacent said shaft.

. 4. In a device of the kind described having a tumbling barrel forreceiving a bulk supply of arches, said tumbling barrel having anexterior wall, bafiles extending substantially axially of and aflixed tothe inside of said exterior wall, a rotating shaft extending through thebarrel and to a remote point outside thereof, and aligned railsextending alongside said shaft, the improvement which comprises, saidbafiles having an outward section inclined in trailing relationship withreference to the radius of the outer extremity thereof, said baflleseach having a lip at its inward extremity forming a trough with theoutward section of the battle, and said lip extending substantiallyradially of said shaft.

5. In a device of the kind described having an interiorly bafiledtumbling barrel for receiving a bulk supply of arches, a rotating shaftextending through the barrel and to a remote point outside thereof, andaligned rails extending alongside said shaft, the improvement whichcomprises said shaft having means thereadjacent for selectivelyrejecting improperly oriented arches and means adjacent said shaft forretaining properly oriented arches thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,086,210 Paridon Feb. 3, 1914 1,260,518 Currier Mar. 26, 1918 1,485,187Hodgdon Feb. 26, 1924 1,966,443 Gray July 17, 1934 2,596,958 Phelps May13, 1952 2,598,973 Chiaberta June 3, 1952 2,615,565 Hoopes Get. 28, 1952

